Zoo City

What do you think about Lauren Beukes winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her second novel, Zoo City?

I haven't read it yet (haven't even seen it in the stores at all) so I can't really give an opinion about it, other than to say that it's quite an impressive achievement.

I guess you need to be a S/F fan to read it ., but any South African win is always nice.

From what I've read about it, it seems to be an allegory (like District 9, the movie) which has things to say about contemporary South Africa. Maybe I'll look into when I have some free time.

Ok, I bought the book, so we'll see what there is to see later this week.

Read it, and quite enjoyed it. It's not so much a science fiction book as an urban fantasy. I think lots of South Africans would enjoy it for the SA settings and cultural references. If you don't like speculative fiction, I would say, give the book a try, at least. It's quite well-written and interesting.

There are quite a few reviews of the book (including one by me) if you want a better idea of what the book is about: http://www.librarything.com/work/9811756/reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed Zoo City, and you definitely do not need to be an SF fan to like it. As dmsteyn says, it is more of an urban fantasy, cleverly constructed and engagingly written – it's Johannesburg, but in a slightly different reality. And as someone who has been living abroad for three years, it made me feel rather homesick too.

I'm amazed and very pleased to hear that South Africans are writing science fiction - and winning awards too! It's about time. Saffers have been stuck in grim realism for far too long. I'll try to read Zoo City asap. Thanks for the info. everyone.